Its almost 10 years now since Narain Karthikeyan scorched the tracks at Australian GP in 2005. The season opener had good news for the Indian since Schumi acknowledged him during the Press Conference on Thursday.

I know Narain would have been on cloud nine, why not that was his idol Schumi talking about him. He has always said this about Schumi – He is like red wine and the more the years, the more better he gets. We do hope Schumi gets back to normalcy at this juncture and yes we do know his son Mika is getting into his boots.

That pic is a memorable one for the reason that an Indian was taking part in the parade for the first time. Back home it did create a lot of expectation for him to win the races. Well it was a well intentioned thought, though from people who didn’t know Narain did all he could with the machine at his disposal.

There was a placard held by a girl in the stands which read “Marry Me Narain”

The qualifying was a classic affair giving Narain the rain master as he is nick named a chance to prove his mettle. He went on to start the grid on 12! A great way to start off the season.

There was a big headline I remember which said, Narain will carry on the big hopes of a billion people, it was true and it indeed was a moment to cherish.

Narain finished a creditable 15th on the grid on the race day 10 years ago at Australia.

That was a start of a roller coaster ride for an Indian in F1. Will get you more on this series.

Before I sign off this one, I should mention the critical part played by the sponsors and especially Mr. Ratan Tata who endorsed Narain’s talent to be a part of this big league. Thanks to TATA Motors, Bharat Petroleum Speed, JK Tyres, and Amaron Batteries.

This is the 2nd part of the series #MyF1years getting you some inside moments during the year.

I will be writing about the first F1 years with respect to Narain Karthikeyan. Come Jan 31st it would be 10 years since that announcement that Narain Karthikeyan went on to make history as the First F1 driver from India. In his own words, ‘there are fewer F1 drivers than astronauts on earth’ that was an achievement only he could have earned and deservedly so.

As it was about to sink in, and the pulse racing on how it would all go that year saw a great revival in Indian’s fortunes and some near misses. The Australian GP was one of its kind. I can easily recall that qualifying under the rains and Narain was in his elements and lo the he had Schumi the God on the track in his rear view mirror when he started that first race of the reason.

It was a drive for Narain and an aspiration for a billion people lived that moment when he raced past the chequered flag completing the race. Bringing home the car mattered the most. In a nation that took time to understand the sport and with people looking to Narain to win a race, it was all like they say in a race – eventful year for Narain and Indian motorsports.

It was during the Thursday’s press conference Narain was acknowledged by the Master Schumacher saying ‘I saw him drive’. With a billion aspiration on his shoulder Narain set out to race in one of his life’s unforgettable moments. His close knit family travelled to see the event unfold, the Australian fans waving the Indian flags and it was a sight to watch when he was aboard the car during the parade moments preceding the race on Sunday.

I still remember a poster which said ‘Narain Marry Me!’ from one of the fangirl.

On March 18, 2005, the yellow coloured Jordan No.19 was cynosure of all eyes in India glued to the TV screens and that signature Chakra & tricolour helmet was all we could see in action as he set out to drive the race of his life time. Its no mean achievement to be the first Indian F1 driver. History was made! He finished 15th!

We shall relive all these moments in the series starting now. And you cant forget TATA, Speed by Bharat Petroleum, JK Tyres, Amaron and Raymonds and JCB later joined the party!

I have been tied up with professional commitments that I could not write about the last weekend at Melbourne. It was one of the finest first corners and then ofcourse the best if you were Jenson Button. It was no fluke if you ask me the lights to flag was indeed an effort well rewarded by the podium. Barichello coming second was the icing on the cake for Brawn GP. What an incredible dream debut. A history of sorts for a team which was not in the list some 30 days ago.

The team did show that the performance on track was not just a fluke, though the lingering thought if Kubica and Vettel incident did not happen does arise, still it would have altered it a quite a bit.

One thing probably the fans are enjoying is seeing the big names in the lower parts of the time sheets which were a rarity for the past few years.

The results were traded so many times even during the Sunday and it did go on and was reverse traded for Trulli and an act of shame was discovered by FIA on Hamilton and then the results were stripped off for Mc Laren. It was no doubt a shameful act and it deserved the punishment.

Even before the Malaysian GP started Nico was wary of the Twilight race so too was Kubica. The fears came true and the race did happen at such Rainy conditions only to be stopped. The confusion at the track does n’t seem to augur well for the F1 as a whole nevertheless the winner this time is again Button after some 32 laps into the race and being cancelled he continues to lead the championship with 5 points added to his tally of 10 from Melbourne.

So the things have now come to a reality that the order on the Sunday’s twilight race will be really be somewhat different, though we have another 24 hours to go for the red lights to go…

We had a pleasant surprise in Williams F1 when Rosberg went on to top both the time sheets today. Must be Sir Frank has his work less cut out after his performance today. Nico if he can continue this for another two days the whole paddock is gonna worry for sure.

Ofcourse not to be left behind Nakajima too followed suit and made it up just behind Nico in the first session. The main point could be read into the fact the early gainers here were Toyota as a the machine and Williams as the car.

As we already saw that BrawnGP would be underdogs turned favorites this weekend they were also pretty fast and were in the top five bracket both the times. Once it was Button and then it was Barichello. Now this underdogs would be Williams going by today’s times and may be favourites too.

We can probably spell it out by tomorrow after noon as soon as the Qualifying is over when we get to know the car weights and the load of fuel.

We have reasons to celebrate with Force India too really up on the pace at 9th and 13th respectively. A good sign that Mallya would be relieved to see and be smiling ear to ear. The hard work is paying off for the lower rung teams and the fact is that this year could be sign of things to come and this would in all probability make F1 more competitive and dynamic on the track and ofcourse spectator friendly.

As for the other teams Ferrari would tread into the top ten and then the Red Bull too were good enough for the Williams and Brawns.

Then there is BMW and McLaren still struggling to keep the car under control. We need to see if there could be a miracle to set the things in order for these two teams for tomorrow at the Qualifying.

STR too are lacking in pace with a new car in the garage.

As reported earlier the bets are on Brawn GP to win the races, could that be history with a new rung team winning in its first ever GP. A sure shot possibility exists between now and tomorrow.

One thing for sure Nico would have second thoughts on his going from Williams.

Catch up after the qualifying and lets see how the grid looks like tomorrow for the twilight race at Albert Park, Melbourne.